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Consultant appointed for Metro Phase II

Electronics City-Yelahanka, Indiranagar-Whitefield link to be important routes under second phase

BMRCL confident of completing the work under first phase by 2011

BANGALORE: While Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) is confident of completing Namma Metro Phase I by 2011, the process for taking up Phase II has begun.

The State Government recently appointed Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (DMRCL) as the consultant for Phase II. The DMRCL is expected to submit the detailed project report in eight months, sources in the Urban Development Department told The Hindu.

Even as the route alignment will have to be decided by the consultant after going through various issues, the major route on Phase II will be between Peripheral Ring Road (Electronics City) and Yelahanka with a changeover at Namma Metro’s M.G. Road Station.

The consultant will follow the Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation Plan (CTTP) for Bangalore prepared by RITES, a Government of India enterprise. The CTTP had recommended construction of two corridors – one between PRR and Yelahanka and the other between Indiranagar Metro Station and Whitefield Railway Station under Metro Phase II.

Under Phase II, an exclusive corridor should be built connecting PRR and Yelahanka (36 km), the plan had said. The existing singular north-south corridor will cater to the western parts of the city between Peenya and Kanakapura Road. As such, the developments coming up on the eastern side between Hosur Road and Whitefield and northern side near Thanisandra and Yelahanka need another north-south corridor, CTTP said.

The proposed corridor will cover Nagavara, Veerannapalya, Fraser Town and residential, commercial and IT industrial areas along Hosur Road. This corridor will have interchange with the airport metro to provide direct access from south and south-east Bangalore to the airport.

RITES said the industrial areas, IT hubs and commercial development around Whitefield and C.V. Raman Nagar have choked the Airport Road and Whitefield Road. As such, a 19.5-km metro link between Indiranagar Metro Station and Whitefield should be built, the CTTP said. The link will have an interface with the Mysore Road-Byappanahalli corridor of Phase I.

Extension

The CTTP, among other things, had also recommended extension of the north-south Corridor of Phase I up to Peripheral Ring Road from the R.V. Road Terminal (10.2 km) and the east-west corridor up to Benniganahalli from Byappanahalli (1.5 km). These two extensions, RITES said, could be taken up under Phase I itself.

To substantiate the suggestion for extension, RITES said the area to the south of Jayanagar – J.P. Nagar, Banashankari and Kumaraswamy Layout are fully developed and densely populated.

With Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Area Planning Authority planning to develop residential and commercial activities along the Bangalore-Mysore Expressway, the north-south commuter traffic is expected to increase substantially. Therefore, the ongoing north-south corridor under Metro Phase I should be extended to PRR via Kanakapura Road. In all, over 140-km metro network, including the high-speed rail link between Mahatma Gandhi Road and Bangalore International Airport (33 km) and Namma Metro’s 42-km network under Phase I, is required to effectively serve the major traffic corridors of the city, RITES had said.